Delhi rape second suspect held; in transit remand

The second accused in the five-year-old girl's rape case in Delhi has been arrested from Bihar's Lakhisarai district in the wee hours on Monday, police said Monday. A Bihar court has granted Pradeep's three-day transit remand to the Delhi Police.

A Delhi Police team with the help of Bihar Police Special Task Force arrested Pradeep Kumar from his maternal uncle's residence in Barahiya village, where he was hiding, Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Abhayanand said on Monday.

"Pradeep was presented in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Lakhisarai and the court granted a three-day transit remand (of Pradeep) to the Delhi Police," Lakhisarai Superintendent of Police Rajeev Mishra said.

Additional Director General of Police (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said that in view of prevailing anger among the people, Pradeep was being taken to Patna under tight security, and from there he will be taken to Delhi.

Pradeep Kumar was produced before Lakhisarai chief judicial magistrate Vishnu Dev Upadhay who sent him to 15-days transit remand.

A large crowd had gathered near the court and the police had a tough time in controlling the crowd.

Kumar is a native of Darbhanga district in Bihar and his name surfaced in the case on the basis of interrogation of prime accused Manoj.

Superintendent of Police of Lakhisarai district Rajeev Mishra, who interrogated him,said Kumar "admitted" to his crime during the interrogation.

In the national capital, Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told PTI that Kumar "will be brought to the national capital today (Monday) after getting a transit remand from Darbhanga court."

Manoj, who was arrested on Saturday from Muzaffarpur in Bihar, had told police during interrogation that one of his friends was also involved in the crime.

The girl was raped on April 15 in a building in east Delhi's Gandhinagar locality where the victim and accused Manoj lived and she was rescued 40 hours later on April 17.

Sources said Manoj told his interrogators that on April 15, his friend Pradeep had come to his house and they had consumed alcohol.

Manoj claimed that Pradeep insisted on bringing a girl to the house and he went out and lured the girl with a chocolate, sources said. Manoj also told police that he did not sexually assault the girl, they said.

He had also claimed that they fled from the house after strangulating her to avoid being identified later and thought that she was dead, they said.

The girl is currently undergoing treatment at AIIMS here and doctors said her condition is stable. Her condition is gradually improving and she is expected to be discharged after two weeks, they said.